1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, an information processing apparatus, a control method thereof, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical scanner (image reading apparatus) reading a document and generating image data has a scan method for starting to read the document according to an instruction from a scanner driver installed in a host personal computer (PC) and transmitting the generated image data to the host PC. This scan method is referred to as a pull scan method.
In recent years, in addition to the pull scan method, as another scan method, a scanner having a pseudo push scan method has been conceived (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-215009). In the pseudo push scan method, a user operates an operation unit of the scanner to select the host PC in which the scanner driver is installed. The scanner sends to the selected host PC a request of “perform pull scan” to cause that PC to perform the pull scan. Subsequently, the host PC performs image processing on the image data received from the scanner and stores it in a predetermined storage location.
To perform the pseudo push scan method, the user operates not the host PC but the scanner to transmit the generated image data to a desired destination.
In either of the above-described pull scan method and pseudo push scan method, various setting values (e.g., size of paper to be read, resolution, and file format) related to scan processing are previously generated by the scanner driver. These setting values are retained in the scanner driver as profile information. To perform the pull scan method or the pseudo push scan method, the user selects desired profile information from the previously-retained profile information to perform scanning.
At this point, one of the big differences in operability between the pull scan method and the pseudo push scan method for the user is whether the user can easily confirm content of the profile information. In other words, when the pull scan method is performed, the user can easily confirm the content of the profile information on a screen of the host PC.
On the other hand, when the pseudo push scan method is performed, since an inexpensive scanner, for example, has a display unit limited in size capable of displaying only limited information, the user cannot easily confirm the content of the profile information thereon. Further, when using the inexpensive scanner, in consideration of a memory capacity and processing load on a central processing unit (CPU), the detailed content of the profile information may not be obtained from the host PC.
To perform the pull scan and the pseudo push scan, function extension for improving usability may be required. For example, in a reading method for setting a document on a document positioning glass to read the document by the scanner, it is impossible to continuously read a plurality of documents to generate an image file formed of a plurality of pages.
As described above, in a method for setting the document on the document positioning glass to read the document by the scanner, the following issue is conceivable. First, to generate a file in the format of a multi-page file such as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, since the document having a plurality of pages need to be continuously read, the user needs to confirm whether to scan a next page of the document every time one page is scanned. On the other hand, when a file is generated in the format of a single page file such as a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) file, since one file is formed of one page, continuous reading of a plurality of pages is not necessary.
More specifically, whether to continuously read the documents varies depending on the file format of the image data generated from the read documents. Thus, when a file is generated in the format of a multi-page file, a screen is displayed for the user to confirm whether to scan the next page of the document. On the other hand, when a file is generated in the format of a single-page file, such a screen is desired to be automatically switched not to be displayed.
However, in the case of the pseudo push scan method, as described above, since the user cannot easily confirm the content of the profile information, the user may not be able to confirm the format of a file to be generated. Thus, when the user does not know the format of the file to be generated, if the screen for confirming whether to scan the next page of the document with the user is automatically switched as described above, the user may be more confused accordingly.